Product rollouts continued in the first day of the 2010 NBAA Annual Meeting & Convention in Atlanta Tuesday, the first official day of the event, as Piper premiered its new and improved PiperJet, dubbed the Altaire. The $2.6 million single-engine VLJ will get a larger, rounder fuselage that is nine inches taller and four inches wider and will come outfitted with the L-3 Trilogy ESI-2000.

Company officials say the PiperJet Altaire will be able to fly 1,300 NM at a max-cruise speed of 360 knots.

It will come packaged with a Garmin G3000 avionics suite, a sunken-aisle cross section to allow ease of movement and three-foot-wide cabin door for easier passenger or cargo shuttling.

Piper says its modified VLJ will cost an average of 25 percent less per hour to operate than comparable aircraft.

“While the earlier PiperJet design, with its Piper M-class cabin cross section, provided a comfortable environment, we wanted to give our jet customers an even roomier light jet that incorporates a scalable design paving the way for a future family of competitive business jets,” said Piper CEO Geoffrey Berger.

L-3 representatives say the ESI-2000 enhances safety by placing a digital standby instrument in a glass cockpit that displays attitude, altitude, airspeed and optional-heading data in a layout that matches most primary flight displays, minimizing a pilot’s chance of disorientation during an emergency.

“Trilogy provides a clear and constant source of backup data that acts as a safeguard for the electrical system and air data computer,” said Larry Riddle, vice president of business development for L-3 Avionics Systems, in a statement released by Piper. “Should either system become disabled, the ESI provides the information the pilot needs to make a safe landing.”